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Notable Oregonians: Nan Wood Honeyman - Congresswoman

Nan Wood Honeyman was born in West Point, Orange County,
New York on July 15, 1881, the daughter of Charles Erskine
Scott Wood and Nanny Moale Wood. She moved with her parents
three years later to Portland, Oregon where she graduated
from the private school, St. Helens Hall, in 1898. Her
education continued later at Finch School in New York
City.

She married David Honeyman in 1908 and was active in
civic and humanitarian organizations before becoming
involved in politics. Honeyman served as a delegate to the
state constitutional convention in 1933, which ratified the
twenty-first amendment to the United States Constitution.
She was a member of the Oregon House of Representatives from
1935 to 1937 and served as a delegate to the Democratic
national conventions in 1936 and 1940.

Honeyman was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Congress
and served from 1937 to 1939, making her the first
congresswoman from Oregon. Her bids for reelection in 1938
and election in 1940 to the U.S. Congress failed. She held
the position of senior representative of the Pacific Coast
office of the U.S. Price Administration from 1941 to 1942.
During the same period, the Multnomah County Commissioners
appointed Honeyman to the Oregon Senate in 1941 to fill a
vacancy and she served until her resignation in 1942. She
was U.S. collector of customs in Portland from 1942 to
1953.